Finances for the Non-Financial

A team that understands the financial impacts of decisions will set a strong financial future for your organization.

Simply put, this topic needs to be at the top of the list when it comes to all employees having a baseline understanding of the finances of the cooperative or utility. This is an interactive, hands-on working session.

In this one-and-a-half-day course employees will learn the correlation between many activities that happen daily, monthly and yearly and the financial impact each has. We will begin with basic finance and accounting concepts, then move to activities occur and how they impact the financial picture.

With a good baseline in place, we can begin to look at decision-making at varying levels and the related impact. By getting all employees on board with these concepts they will see how they can help secure and ensure a strong financial position today and into the future.

Course topics will include:

• Analysis of the financial reports of income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows.

• The importance of the budget and forecasting process.

• Accrual accounting.

• Depreciation.

• Rate design and cost of service studies.

• Expense tracking and variable costs.

• The impact of the construction work plan on total plant.

• Work in process.

• Allocation and distribution methods of patronage capital credits.

• Equity position.

• Accounts turnover ratio, write-offs, and over-90-day accounts.

• Inventory rules of thumb and best practices.

• "Below the line"activities.